Many of the modern domestic electric appliances as well as some special devices are operated by remote control panels (hereinafter—a RC panel). This is especially related to the modern TV receivers or television signal playback devices (in particular, OTT or IPTV digital signals), operating of which without a RC panel is difficult to imagine. Obviously, as the number of electric appliances employed by a user increases, the problem of control becomes more complicated, since each device is generally provided with its own panel, so it is easy to lose these panels or mistake one for another. In this regard, there is a need for designing a single RC panel, which is capable of controlling different devices including those intended for different purposes.
Another problem inherent in the known RC panels is related to the fact that people who share a certain common device, for example, members of one family or employees of one company give different preferences to the settings of this device. Therefore, they find themselves in the situation of conflict as related to the use of this shared device, permanently readjusting the device for themselves and thus disrupting settings made by other users. As an example, different members of the same family are, as a rule, fans of absolutely different TV channels and programs. Men usually prefer sports channels and, accordingly, adjust a TV receiver in such a way that it is more convenient to call the content of a sports channel. Women are enthusiastic about TV series, children watch animated cartoons. Therefore, in order for a user to go ahead with viewing of the TV-content of interest for him/her, he/she often has to manipulate the RC panel for a long time, monitoring the content and selecting the desired channel and television program. The same can be true for air conditioners, radio receivers, kitchen machines and other devices.
Unfortunately, modern RC panels do not enable adaptation of an electric device to the preferences of several users simultaneously without sacrificing the settings made by each of these users. Accordingly, there is a need in the prior art for designing such a RC panel that would provide different users with the possibility of adapting related devices to the requirements of these users without loss of settings made by other users of these devices and this panel.
Further, let's turn attention to the following aspect. When controlling devices by means of a RC panel, a user is interested in generation of control input with minimum operating of the panel, ideally, by pressing only one button. This requirement can be easily observed if the RC panel has information about the user's preferences and as if anticipates his/her wishes. Meanwhile, currently known RC panels are prevented from adapting to the user's preferences based on the statistics of his/her behavior when handling the panel and controlled devices. Therefore, the prior art does not represent RC panels enabling the user to send the required control signal to the desired device by pressing only one button.
Finally, let's consider the aspect concerning the content provider, in particular, operators and advertisers. The content provider always seeks that the delivered information resources find their target audience as closely as possible. In this respect, the goals of subscribers, operators and advertisers coincide. The subscribers are provided with psychological comfort, if they are protected against TV-content, unneeded and uninteresting for them, while their TV-receiver is only tuned to playout favorite programs and channels. The situation when transmitted content is maximally focused is highly profitable for operators and advertisers. In this case, the broadcast program or advertisement will be delivered to the targeted audience and, as a consequence, will have maximum effect. Accordingly, operators and advertisers are very interested in the emergence of mechanism that enables identifying preferences of the TV content users. Such mechanisms are presented in the sphere of Internet technologies and delivery of digital TV content to personal devices. However, this problem has not been solved so far in the sphere of digital television playout on a big screen having several active users with different interests.
The prior art discloses RC panels that ensure the possibility of controlling several devices mated with them. Examples of such panels are disclosed in the US 20110217046, US 20100013695, and US 20040208588 documents. In addition, a multibrand RC panel that allows manipulating digital TV signal playback devices connected to the Internet network is known from US 20130205212. Unfortunately, the above drawbacks are inherent in all of these panels, therefore, there remains a need in this industry for a RC panel, by means of which different users can control different devices, which is capable of adapting to demands of different users and ensures the possibility of controlling devices using minimum number of touches on controls without exciting a conflict with the settings made by other users of the same panel.